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Tuesday, January 15, 2013

We Southwest desert dwellers are the type to shrug off 110’F
weather and put on a heavy winter jacket on the first 60’F fall day. So when
the weatherman said we would be dropping into the 20’s and teens for overnight
temps this week, it was big news. Yes, we get freezes here but a hard freeze is
a rare occurrence as attested to by the un-insulated pipes that run along the
outside walls of many houses here.

O.k. after those of you who have real winters stop giggling,
I’ll continue…

I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to make an
ice bunting, something that I thought I might never get to do. I had seen them
a few years ago on the interwebs and thought “that’s neat, too bad it’s
generally nice and mild here in the winter.”

After I covered the cacti (they go gelatinous and die if it’s
too cold), the bougainvillea, and double checked that the water pipes under the
new house were in a layer of insulation, I broke out the paper cups left over
from a birthday party a few years ago and food coloring. I filled each cup
halfway with water and then put a few drops of food coloring in each. I did
this out on the back deck where they were going to be left out overnight, that
way I would make the inevitable spill of dyed water while transferring them out
there.

As my fingers became increasingly numb with cold, I strung
paperclips to some yarn I had dyed awhile back. I draped the yarn over each cup
so that the paperclip sunk in to the colored water, which would later freeze to
secure the paperclip.

I was very excited about my use of the weather to my crafty
advantage and went to bed very satisfied with myself.

Now the next morning, despite being excited about my ice
bunting, I didn’t immediately run outside to check on it. Why? Well, it was
freezing cold outside!! After warming my core with coffee, slipping my feet
into some fleece socks and slippers, and donning a sweatshirt PLUS a heavy wool
sweater, I went out to check on my creation. I tapped on the top of one of my
frozen concoctions and felt the ice crack. They were mostly frozen but not
completely. I had a remedy for this...the freezer. I gathered up my creation in
a storage box, which btw I should have started them in, stuck it all in the
freezer and went about my day.

Of course, as you can imagine, I was very excited to get
home that afternoon. I pulled the bunting out of the freezer, took it to the
front porch and tore the paper cups away from the colored ice and strung the
bunting up. I also got food coloring all over my hands but I didn’t care b/c I
had my ice bunting!!

Monday, January 7, 2013

So, my birthday is this week. I won’t tell you how old I
will be but suffice to say I will be 39 again J
I am sure everybody reading this is scrambling to figure out what to get me.
Not to worry! I will just come straight out and tell ya.

I want food!

No, seriously and I’m not being cheeky. I want food for my
birthday.

Well, I actually don’t want you to give me the food. I want
you to give it to your local food bank or any other organization that serves
the food insecure in your area. Go take a peek in your kitchen pantry. See that
can of beans, soup or tuna or that bag of rice or that unopened jar of peanut
butter? That’s what your local food bank needs.

You’re voice, you’re time are just as important as anything
that would be given in kind. SO, I want something else for my birthday. I want
you to pass this along. Encourage others to donate food or their time to their
local organizations.

Don’t know where to donate in your local area? FeedingAmerica can help.

Want to donate your time and support other great
organizations serving the food insecure? One concept that I love is the Community
Café. If you live in the Denver area, you may be familiar with SAME Café. They
are a restaurant that runs on a pay what you can model just like many others
around the United States. Find one near you http://www.oneworldeverybodyeatsfoundation.org/
and go have a birthday lunch for me.

About Me

I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities. ~Theodore Geisel